In Control (The City Series) (28 page)

“Kingsley?”

Wren’s voice jolted me awake and I opened one eye, my vision blurred.

“Here,” he said, holding his hand out.

I opened my mouth, signaling him to put the three pills on my tongue.

“Baby, you need to sit up so you can swallow them.”

I whined, but slowly sat up. Wren placed the pills on my tongue and handed me the glass of ice water, flooding my parched mouth with cool liquid.

“Do you need anything else?”

I shook my head, dropping it down onto the pillow. Before closing my eyes, I studied Wren. His cheeks were flushed, and his eyes, normally fully alert, were half-closed.

“Thank you for taking care of me,” I said, expressing as much as I could without puking all over him.

Wren gave a small smile, kissed my forehead, and left the room.

In the minutes before falling asleep, I remembered two things. The guilt plainly on Porter’s face when he saw me this afternoon, and the agony I felt after walking away from him.

I woke up this morning when I was dragged out of from under my sheets. My eyes shot open as Mrs. Henderson clutched my ankles and pulled me across the cold basement floor.

“Get up!” she snarled. Her fingernails dug into my skin and I tried kicking her hands away, but didn’t have the strength. She always overpowered me. “Stand up, now!” She let go of my legs and waited until I was on both feet to slap me across the face. “How dare you!” she screamed.

My hand instantly went to my cheek, but I knew I couldn’t cry. I could never show that she was breaking me down.

“Your little boyfriend,
Porter
,” she spit. “His parents showed up at this house, demanding an explanation!”

I was confused by her words. Demanding an explanation for what? I had no idea what was happening, and I was terrified to ask.

“Do you understand what you’ve done?”

I looked up, past her shoulder. Drew was huddled on the last step, tears pouring down his cheeks. Jenny, Ava, and David were there too. Their faces showed fear as they watched Mrs. Henderson scream at me.

“I-I don’t understand what I’ve done,” I finally mumbled.

“You bitch!”

Her palm struck the same cheek once more, sending me to the ground. Andrew ran over to my side, nestling his body across my stomach. His tears spilled onto my shirt as he yelled at his mother to stop.

“Get off of her, Drew!” Mrs. Henderson pulled at his tiny arms, demanding Jenny and Ava take him upstairs.

When I opened my eyes to look into his, I forced a smile. “It’s okay, Bear. Go with them upstairs. I’ll be okay,” I whispered in his ear. I gave him every ounce of hope I had leftover before he was carried off, leaving Mrs. Henderson and I alone.

She kneeled down and I immediately curled my legs into my stomach, squeezing my eyes closed. “Get dressed, comb your natty hair out, and get ready to put on your best acting performance,” she ordered.

“I don’t understand,” I said, scooting my body away. “What’s going on?”

“I’ll let CPS explain that to you. Remember though, if you tell them the truth, you’ll never sleep another peaceful night again.”

The second she closed the basement door, I threw on my jeans. I was dying to know what happened to Porter. Why did his parents come here, and what did they tell the Hendersons? When I went to bed last night, I knew something bad was going to happen; I felt it in the pit of my stomach, but I never thought it would be this. I twisted my hair into a bun and knotted the laces on my gym shoes.

When I opened the door and walked into the living room, a woman I’d never seen before was sitting on the couch, studying a notebook in her lap. Mrs. Henderson was sitting in her recliner, but Mr. Henderson was nowhere in sight. He must have been scared off with just the mention of CPS. I made a sound, letting the woman know I was there.

“Oh,” she said, looking up from her lap. She stood and held out her hand. “My name is Kelly. You must be Kingsley.”

I nodded and shook her hand. She asked me to take a seat and then requested that Mrs. Henderson give us some privacy, which almost made me smile because no one ever had the nerve to ask her for anything.

When Mrs. Henderson left the room, making it known that she thought the whole thing was ridiculous, Kelly studied me for a moment before speaking. Without thinking, I brought my hand up to my cheek, wondering if it was red.

“I know this all must seem a bit weird,” she said quietly.

Her delicate tone made the situation a bit less uncomfortable. She seemed like a nice lady, someone who couldn’t hurt a fly, but I thought the same thing of Mrs. Henderson.

“I’m going to ask you a couple questions and I just want you answer them as truthfully as you can,” she continued.

She smiled at me and I returned it with my own, giving her the indication to carry on. “Kingsley, you’ve been staying with the Hendersons for about three years, is that correct?”

“Yes,” I answered.

“Good. Okay. Do you like living here?”

I remembered Mrs. Henderson’s words. Remember though, if you tell them the truth, you’ll never sleep another peaceful night again. “Yes, it’s fine,” I responded.

She wrote something down, but I wasn’t able to see her notebook to read it.

“Okay,” she said, looking back up at me. “Do you like having so many brothers and sisters? You have eight, is that correct?”

The only one I considered my sibling was Drew, but I nodded.

“Where do you sleep?”

Her question threw me off guard. I didn’t know if I was supposed to say the basement. Was my answer going to make her write something else down?

It did.

“The basement has to be cold at night, especially in the winter. Are you given enough blankets?”

I was given one sheet. It was at least twenty years old, but it was soft. It protected me, for the most part.

I nodded my response.

The next few questions were simple. Did the Hendersons feed me? Yes. Was I allowed to play outside? Yes. Have I ever been hurt by any of my brothers or sisters? I was tempted to tell her about Jenny, but stopped myself and answered no.

“Have either of the Hendersons ever hit you?”

My insides twisted in pain. My palms were beginning to sweat, and I shoved them into my lap, making sure to hide the evidence of my nerves. “No,” I said, my voice slightly shaky.

Kelly noticed the shake and wrote something else down. “Okay. One more question.” She gave another comforting smile and continued. “This one is going to seem a little weird, but it’s required that I ask. Is that okay?”

I nodded, knowing the next question.

“Has anyone ever touched you inappropriately? Any kind of touch that made you feel uneasy?”

I shook my head quickly. “No. Never.” My voice still shook, but I couldn’t hide that along with everything else.

Kelly wrote one last thing in her notebook and closed it. “You did great, Kingsley.”

I took a quiet exhale and stood up. Kelly followed.

“It was very nice meeting you,” she said, holding out her hand.

I shook it quickly and ran out of the room. The second I returned to the basement, I wrapped myself in the sheet I used every single night, hoping it would bring me some type of comfort. Anything that could make me feel just a tiny bit better. I needed to see Porter. Needed to know what was going on. Climbing into the window last night was an easy task, so I made the split-second decision to climb out of it and go see him.

Making sure Kelly or Mrs. Henderson didn’t discover me running through the yard, I squatted down as I passed the front of the house. When I got to the corner of the street, I ran like I was being chased. I didn’t stop running for six blocks. My chest was burning and I was gasping for air, but I had to get to Porter. I crossed the street and ran up his driveway, and just before I had the chance to knock on his door, it opened.

“Kingsley, you shouldn’t be here,” Mrs. Henning urged. She looked as if she hasn’t slept for twenty-four hours. The dark circles under her eyes made her appear ten years older than she actually was. She wore the same clothing from last night, and her hair, which was typically in a neat ponytail, hung down past her shoulders.

“Can I please see Porter?” I begged.

“Kingsley, we can’t allow you to see him right now. Please, go home.”

“Can I
please
see Porter?” I repeated.

Tears filled her eyes as she stared down at me.

“Mom, it’s fine. I’ll be right back.”
Porter stepped into the doorway, and briefly smiled at his mom before closing the door behind him.

“Porter,” I said, joining him on his porch, “are you okay?”

I touched his arm but he moved his body.
He moved his body farther away from me.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t see you anymore, Kingsley.”

His words weren’t real. This entire day was some nightmare I must be stuck in. There was no way he told me that he didn’t want to see me anymore because he loved me. He was supposed to love me forever.

“I don’t understand. What do you mean you can’t see me anymore?”

Porter looked at me, but what I expected to see in his eyes, wasn’t there. He looked upset, angry, torn about what he’d just said to me. “I mean we can’t see each other anymore. You’re a bad influence.”

My blood boiled, my heart beat faster than it ever had. I stared at him until he finally had the nerve to stare back. “What do you mean,
I’m
a bad influence?!” I yelled. I couldn’t control the anger rising in my stomach. I couldn’t push it down and every second that passed was torture to not let it explode.

“There’s nothing more I have to say to you,” he mumbled.

He began to walk back toward the door, but I pulled on his arm forcing him not to move.

“Explain this to me!” I cried. All day I’d been left in the dark. I didn’t understand why Kelly visited the Hendersons. I didn’t understand why I was asked a million questions about my life. I didn’t
understand
why Porter was giving up on me.

He looked at me and the sadness in his face was evidence enough that he didn’t want to say any of this.

“Don’t stop loving me,” I begged. “Please, just don’t leave me.” Tears ran down my cheeks landing on my arm that was clutching onto his.

Porter shook his head, and I didn’t know if that meant he agreed with my plea or if it meant that he didn’t love me. “My parents don’t want me to see you anymore, and I don’t have much of a say in that. They convinced me that I needed to focus on school, and you’re too much of a distraction. Okay?”

“No, it’s not okay!” I screamed.

Porter’s eyes widened. I’d never yelled at him like this before. I’d never cried like this in front of him. I was exposing more of myself to him now than I had in all of the time we’d been together.

“Well, it has to be!” he yelled back. “Move on, Kingsley! I don’t love you anymore!”

His words were as sharp as a knife and I felt every single puncture.

When he tried to walk away again, I desperately wrapped my hands around his wrist, willing him not to leave.

“Kingsley, let me go!”

“Just give me one reason why,” I begged.

I looked up at him, tears continuing to fall onto my cheeks. He looked down at me without a hint of sadness on his face.

“I told my parents about last night. I told them I took shrooms, and they demanded to know where I got it from, so I...I told them your foster dad sold it to me.”

I dropped my arms to my sides, stunned by his words. “You lied,” I murmured. I realized what Porter had done and my hand flew over my mouth.

His parents must have gone to the police and insist they arrest Mr. Henderson. That’s why CPS came to my house and asked me those questions. That’s why Mrs. Henning looked at me like I was the spawn of Satan.

“Just go, Kingsley.” Porter walked to the front door, but didn’t go inside.

When I looked back at him, our eyes locked, but the admiration we once had for each other had vanished. I looked at him and saw a boy who was so scared to admit the truth, he’d ruin someone else’s life in order to protect his. He couldn’t tell his parents that he was an alcoholic, so he needed someone weak to take the blame...and he knew I’d be that person. I wished I knew what he saw when he looked at me, but I never would. I think he actually stopped seeing me months ago, and that was the start of our downfall.

“I hope I never see you again.” I took every part of my broken heart and displayed the pieces in my words. “I hope you someday see what you’ve caused, and when you realize it, I hope happiness turns its back on you and you never feel it again.”

I looked at him one last time, the boy who taught me the difference between a mocha and a latte. The boy who gave me his bag of chips when I was still hungry at lunch. The boy who torched my heart without a warning. All of a sudden, his name didn’t make me smile anymore.

I cried the entire way home. This time, I couldn’t run. My eyes blurred with tears and they spilled off of my face onto the passing sidewalk. I didn’t care that other pedestrians saw me. I wanted them to see the broken girl walking down the street and feel sad for me. I wanted their silent pity.

When I arrived back at the Hendersons’ house, I was surprised to see that Kelly’s car was still in the driveway. I was even more surprised when I saw two police cars parked across the street. My feet were tempted to run, but then I thought about Drew and how confused he probably was by all of this.